This invention relates to an off the road vehicle and more particularly to a transmission, driving and power takeoff arrangement for an off the road vehicle.
Recently, there has been proposed a type of off the road vehicle that employs as its power unit a combined engine, crankcase, transmission assembly of the type normally used in a motorcycle. Such vehicles are designed normally to accommodate a single rider and have three or four wheels equipped with low pressure, balloon tires. Such tires are of the wide profile type and are inflated to relatively low pressures, such as in the range of 0.1 to 0.3 Kg/cm.sup.2.
The motorcycle engine power unit, as has been noted, employs a combined crankcase, transmission assembly in which the engine output shaft and a plural speed, change speed transmission is incorporated. Such change speed transmission normally include three, four or five forward speeds as well as the clutch mechanism for coupling the engine output shaft to the transmission input shaft. This type of vehicle was originally proposed primarily for recreational use, but now has been found that the vehicle also lends itself to a number of practical tasks, such as agricultural use or the like.
Because of the off the road use of such vehicles, the motorcycle transmission normally employed does not provide a sufficient number or range of transmission ratios. In addition, it is desirable to provide a reverse gear, which many motorcycle transmissions do not employ. Therefore, it has been proposed to attach an auxiliary transmission to the main transmission of the power unit so as to provide additional ratios and/or a reverse gear. However, since the vehicle is normally designed to handle a single rider, if the auxiliary transmission is attached to a side of the main transmission, this increases the width of the power unit substantially. This can provide an awkward riding position since the transmission of the main power unit is normally disposed between the rider's legs. The additional of the auxiliary transmission can unnecessarily and excessively widen the vehicle and cause the operator to have an unsatisfactory or uncomfortable riding position.
It is, therefore, a principal object of this invention to provide an improved transmission and driving arrangement for an off the road vehicle.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved compact and better weight distributed transmission and drive assembly for an off the road vehicle designed for operation by a single rider.
It is a yet further object of this invention to provide an improved transmission unit for an off the road vehicle embodying a main transmission and an auxiliary transmission so located that they do not add to the width of the main power unit.
In order to lend itself for application for practical as well as recreational purposes, it is desirable to incorporate a power takeoff from the engine transmission assembly so as to permit the driving of an accessory, even when the power unit and vehicle are stationary. For this purpose, it has been proposed to incorporate a power takeoff in the auxiliary transmission. However, when the auxiliary transmission is mounted adjacent to or as a part of the main engine transmission unit, the power takeoff shaft may not be disposed in as convenient a location as is required for driving external accessories.
It is, therefore, yet a further object of this invention to provide an improved transmission power takeoff assembly for an off the road vehicle.